Harm Vis, Medical Student, 1st year
It is early in the morning and my alarm clock goes off. Whereas last September I jumped out of bed to watch the lectures live, now I turn off my alarm and I go back to sleep thinking I will watch the lectures later that day at a faster pace. In the end, you get used to everything. Even not being able to physically start my study at this new university. Something I have been waiting for, for so long. The excitement and the novelty are gone by now. It takes me a little longer to get ready for the day and flip open my laptop, but I'm still enjoying myself.
I am used to all the lectures but my heartbeat still accelerates for an exam. Unfortunately, that's part of the game. As long as you don't go into ventricular fibrillation you will survive the exam! But what happens if you do go into spontaneous cardiac arrest? During acute education we learned what to do. The AED must be fetched, you call 112, if everything is SAFE, you begin your CPR. Chest compressions (30 units) alternate with ventilations (2 attempts), until the paramedics come to take over from you. Next, Lucas is taken out of his case. Who is Lucas? What is Lucas!
I was amazed when, during my professional orientation internship in the emergency room, an elderly man with a LUCAS was announced to arrives shortly. An organized chaos started with all kinds of people going to the trauma room. Whether I wanted to come along to the 'rea' (abbreviations really need to be abolished). It took a while before I realized it was a reanimation. It's absurd to see how many people are involved. It's even crazier to see the gentleman being wheeled into the trauma room with no one to perform his afternoon workout on the patient's chest. Everyone is watching while LUCAS tries to keep the gentleman's heart going with his full wattage.
In addition to LUCAS, there are other machines that can perform this mechanical CPR. They do not tire during CPR and perform each compression identically. This makes for better outcomes of the challenging and long resuscitations. Something I had never considered prior to this date.
Even in corona time, there is still a lot to learn and discover. Enjoy your college days!
